This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the improvement in load-bearing capacity of floating structures. More particularly, it relates to a method of and an apparatus for increasing the load on floating structures such as pontoon, vehicle shock-absorbing system, airplane landing gear, shoe heels, buildings, and the likes without being toppled over.
Under a normal usage of a typical pontoon there is always a chance of the pontoon being overly tilted or even capsized as a result of an imbalanced loading. This type of accidents could happen even with a load of less than the design capacity of the pontoon.
In the case of vehicle shock-absorbing system, airplane landing gear, shoe heels, or buildings situated on an unstable ground, a sudden load concentrating on any particular point could lead to early structural failures of the entire system.
To minimize such incident several methods such as by physically queueing of the people using the pontoon into columns in order to distribute the load has been used. But this type of restraint remains unpopular among the commuters due to the unresolved problem concerning the interaction between those who want to get off and those who want to get on the boat at the same time.
Another method is by making the pontoon more stable in the horizontal direction, i.e. by installing columns around the pontoon to prevent it from tilting. However, this type of permanent structures require large amount of investment.
As for buildings and other structures situated on an unstable ground such as those in the earthquake area several methods have been used in order to lessen the impact due to the sudden movement of the ground. However, they are not very reliable and still need to be improved.